Dungeons (computer game)

Dungeons is a real-time strategy game developed by Realmforge Studios and released by Kalypso Media in early 2011 . An independently executable add-on for the game was released in autumn 2011 under the title Dungeons: The Dark Lord .

Dungeons

The game is a strategy game inspired by Bullfrog's Dungeon Keeper , in which the player takes on the role of the "dungeon lord", the keeper of his own dungeon . The developers try to explain the endless accumulations of gold, weapons and the like in computer games with the game.

The game is about the adventures of the dungeon lord, who tries to lure heroes into his dungeon in order to steal their "soul energy".

Gameplay

Every hero has soul energy, which increases the happier the hero becomes. Therefore the player, as a dungeon lord, has to distribute and manage gold, weapons, weak enemies, books and traps with the help of his numerous but dependent goblin workers. Because heroes want - depending on their type - to find gold and new weapons, acquire knowledge, defuse traps or harm opponents or cause damage. Champion heroes can appear later in the game who only have the purpose of destroying the dungeon lord.

What a single hero wants depends on the individual, but magicians usually want to acquire knowledge in libraries, villains usually want to defuse traps and warriors usually want to take damage. It is only important that the hero should not die before he has become completely happy or has reached his maximum of soul energy or he should get bored, so that he starts looking for the so-called "dungeon heart".

The dungeon heart is the center of the dungeon, if this is lost to the heroes, the dungeon lord is defeated. The dungeon lord is also revived at the dungeon heart.

Defeated heroes can be brought into torture chambers so that the last remnants of joy / soul energy can be extracted from them.

reception

Dungeons was rated as mediocre by the trade press. At Metacritic it received 65 out of 100 points. It was often criticized that, although it is explicitly based on the Dungeon Keeper model , it does not achieve its qualities. Other reviewers noted that "Dungeons is only vaguely inspired by Dungeon Keeper and the game mechanics are more like a micromanagement-heavy RollerCoaster Tycoon game with a bit of Diablo ." Part of the poor rating is therefore also attributed to the disappointed expectation of many players and reviewers to have a kind of Dungeon Keeper III in front of them.

Despite the mediocre reviews, Dungeons was number 1 on the PC full price charts determined by Media Control in early February 2011 , ahead of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm .

Extensions

To Dungeons there are two premium download packs (DLCs), each including new maps and additional game content. In November 2011, the base game and both download packages were combined into a Game of the Year Edition .

Dungeons - The Dark Lord

Real time strategy game

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

control

Keyboard , mouse

system advantages
preconditions

like basic game (see above)

medium

1 DVD-ROM , download

language

German, English, French, Russian, Polish

serial number

Dungeons - The Dark Lord is a standalone playable expansion for Dungeons that was released on September 22, 2011. In addition to a new single player campaign, The Dark Lord also contains various multiplayer modes for up to four players and a new environment. A demo version of its own has been published for the expansion, which includes three tutorial missions and an additional map.

In the single player campaign, the player takes on the role of Calypso, the ex-lover of the "Dungeon Lord" from the base game. He created a mighty ring, the destruction of which is the aim of the campaign. The gameplay corresponds to that of the basic game, but various mechanisms have been revised, for example the time limits have been removed.

In order to be able to download patches for the game, it is necessary to set up a player account with the publisher Kalypso and to enter the serial number. According to the publisher, it should be possible to unbind the account by asking, in order to enable a resale, for example.

The reviews of Dungeons - The Dark Lord were slightly better than those of the predecessor, among other things, the elimination of the time limits and the new multiplayer mode were positively noticed. Other shortcomings of the predecessor, such as the monotonous process, weaknesses in the game balance and a lack of tactical options, have not been eliminated. GameStar described the game as "humorous digging without depth" and awarded 71 out of 100 points.

Sequels

On April 24, 2015, Dungeons 2 was released for Linux , macOS , PlayStation 4 and Windows (Vista, 7, 8, 10) and on October 13, 2017, Dungeons 3 was also released for Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4 and Windows. Unlike dungeons , the sequels are also distributed via GOG.com without digital rights management . There are four extensions each for both sequels.

Web links

Official website for the game series
Dungeons at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Mark Wallton: Dungeons Review ( English ) GameSpot . February 7, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2012: “ Dungeons' mind-numbing, repetitive gameplay never reaches the greatness of Dungeon Keeper, its classic inspiration. "

↑ Dungeons PC ( English ) metacritic.com. January 2, 2012. Accessed January 2, 2012: " 65 out of 100, based on 35 critics "

^ Christian Schmidt: Dungeons in the test; In the dungeon of torments . GameStar . January 27, 2011. Accessed on November 6, 2011: “ Inspired by the classic Dungeon Keeper, the German studio Realmforge has presented a black, humorous dungeon simulator. But Dungeons is played significantly different than the model. Above all, significantly worse. "

↑ Phil Soletsky: Dungeons ( English ) game-over.com. February 15, 2011. Accessed January 10, 2012: “ I was completely primed for Dungeon Keeper, and what I got instead was kind of Diablo meets Rollercoaster Tycoon. "

↑ "Dungeons": Dungeon construction successfully completed . Media Control . February 3, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2012.

↑ ^a ^b Kevin Stich: Calypso strikes back! - Dungeons: The Dark Lord in the test . GameStar . September 22, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2012.

↑ Christian Breitbach: Short test: Dungeons - The Dark Lord . GBase. November 15, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2012.

↑ Dungeons II at MobyGames (English) accessed on October 15, 2018

↑ Dungeons III at MobyGames (English), accessed on October 15, 2018

[gs-1] Mark Wallton: Dungeons Review ( English ) GameSpot . February 7, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2012: “ Dungeons' mind-numbing, repetitive gameplay never reaches the greatness of Dungeon Keeper, its classic inspiration. "

[2] Dungeons PC ( English ) metacritic.com. January 2, 2012. Accessed January 2, 2012: " 65 out of 100, based on 35 critics "

[3] Christian Schmidt: Dungeons in the test; In the dungeon of torments . GameStar . January 27, 2011. Accessed on November 6, 2011: “ Inspired by the classic Dungeon Keeper, the German studio Realmforge has presented a black, humorous dungeon simulator. But Dungeons is played significantly different than the model. Above all, significantly worse. "